Police detain Goa Cong leaders during march to Raj Bhavan over Adani issue

Panaji, Dec 18 (PTI) Police detained several Congress leaders in Goa, including the party's state unit president Amit Patkar, when they were taking out a protest march to the Raj Bhavan near here on Wednesday, alleging that the Centre was protecting the Adani Group.

Gautam Adani, India's second-richest man, and seven others were recently charged by the US Department of Justice with paying bribes to unidentified officials of state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to buy expensive solar power, potentially earning more than USD 2 billion in profit over 20 years.

The Adani Group, however, denied the charges stating that the allegations by US prosecutors were "baseless".

The opposition Congress had given a call to march towards the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday to protest against the Centre over the Adani issue.

The protesters gathered near the Raj Bhavan and started walking towards it when the police personnel stopped them at the gate. A scuffle broke out between the two sides. As the protesters refused to budge, the police detained Congress leaders including Patkar, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and state Congress vice president Sunil Kawthankar.

They were taken to the Agassaim police station and released some time later.

Talking to reporters, Kawthankar said he and Alemao were injured during the scuffle with the police.

"We were walking in a peaceful manner when the police started pushing us without any provocation," he said.

Kawthankar said the Congress wanted to meet Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and submit a memorandum to him, asking why the Modi government was shielding Adani. PTI RPS NP